AWEPA marks International Day of the Girl Child

To celebrate the “International Day of the Girl Child” on October 11, we at AWEPA would like to highlight our efforts to support local communities in West Africa to abandon Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C), a violation of the human rights of girls and women. According to the World Health Organisation, about 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM, including an estimated 101 million in Africa. A recent UNICEF report (July 2013) on this issue states that more than 125 million girls and women have been subjected to FGM/C in 29 countries in Africa and the Middles East, and 30 million girls are at risk of being cut within the next decade.

As awareness of the consequences of FGM/C spreads, women should become more active in campaigning for their rights. Endorsing this global movement, AWEPA advocates for greater awareness of this issue in both Africa and Europe, as FGM/C is not yet adequately addressed in African and in European parliaments. AWEPA works in close cooperation with African MPs to sensitise communities, and to legislate for and implement an accelerated abandonment of FGM/C. Simultaneously, AWEPA cooperates with European parliamentarians, to create laws that aim to put an end to the practice in Europe, and to keep the issue of FGM/C high on the European political agenda.

In 2013, AWEPA worked in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF on their joint programme “Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change.” The following activities were implemented:

Workshop in Saly (Dakar), Senegal– March 15-19. Senegalese MPs met in Saly in a workshop on the role of parliamentarians in the abandonment of female genital mutilation / cutting (FGM/C), followed by a sensitisation activity in the Kolda region.

Awareness-raising workshop in Senegal – September 20. Thirty-five Parliamentarians representatives of the seven regions with highest prevalence of FGM/C (namely Sédhiou, Kolda, Tambacounda, Kédougou, Louga, Saint-Louis and Matam), participated in a workshop in Dakar to increase the role of parliamentarians in accelerating the abandonment of FGM/C. By the end of 2013, Senegalese parliamentarians will also participate in a number of decentralised activities in which they will assess the perception of the practice among their constituents, their level of knowledge about its legal and medical consequences, and finally the people’s expectations from the MPs to help end the practice.

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AWEPA works in cooperation with African Parliaments to strengthen parliamentary democracy in Africa, to keep Africa high on the political agenda in Europe and to facilitate African-European Parliamentary dialogue.